Yale School Of Drama Announces Yale Design Showcase

YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA (James Bundy, Dean; Victoria Nolan, Deputy Dean) has announced the inaugural Yale Design Showcase, May 13-15 at 149 York Street, New Haven, Connecticut: an opportunity for theater professionals to visit the campus and meet the 2019 Class of scenic, costume, lighting, sound, and projection designers, and to see their work up close.

The Design Department, encompassing scenic, costume, lighting, and projection design, is co-chaired by Stephen Strawbridge and Michael Yeargan. The department's faculty includes Joshua Benghiat, David Biedny, Shawn Boyle, Alan Edwards, Marjorie Folkman, Jess Goldstein, Jane Greenwood, Wendall K. Harrington, Riccardo Hernandez, Ann McCoy, Lee Savage, Manuel Baenboim Segal. Ilona Somogyi, Jennifer Tipton, and Ru-Jun Wang.

The faculty of the Sound Design Department, chaired by David Budries, includes Michael Backhaus, Charles Coes, Marcelo Dietrich, Nick Lloyd, Bronwen MacArthur, and Matthew Suttor.

"We are thrilled to be able to showcase the work of this amazingly gifted graduating class of designers. Visitors will be impressed by the originality and the range and depth of the creative output that they will encounter," said Stephen Strawbridge, on behalf of his Design Department Co-Chair Michael Yeargan and Sound Design Chair David Budries. "We especially look forward to introducing these emerging artists to the many distinguished theatre professionals that are expected to attend."

The Yale Design Showcase coincides with the School's annual Carlotta Festival of New Plays: three fully-produced new plays by graduating playwrights, featuring work by students from every department of the School, and performed in rotating repertory through May 15.

YAARA BAR (PROJECTION DESIGNER) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include Death of Yazdgerd. Other recent work includes El Huracán (Yale Repertory Theatre); Agreste (Drylands), Xander Xyst, Dragon: 1, The Red Tent, Butterfly Terror (Yale Cabaret); and Lear (Yale Summer Cabaret). She holds a B.A. in visual communication from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, where she worked as a motion and graphic designer.

BRITTANY BLAND (Projection Designer) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include shakespeare's as u like it, Marty and the Hands That Could, The Girl Is Chained, Tent Revival, and The Three Sisters. She recently designed Twelfth Night at Yale Rep and assisted Zachary Borovay on Good Faith. Previously, she was the assistant to the projection supervisor, where she helped design and execute projection designs for Yale Repertory Theatre and Yale School of Drama productions. Her other designs include Taking Warsan Shire Out of Context on the Eve of the Great Storm, How We Died of Disease-Related Illness and Slouch (Yale Cabaret). She holds a B.A. in technical theater and production from Catawba College, North Carolina.

JOHN BONDI-ERNOEHAZY (SCENIC DESIGNER) is a third-year designer at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include YELL: a documentary of my time here, Pivot, LOCUSTS, Marty and the Hands That Could, and Death of Yazdgerd. Yale Cabaret credits include Collisions. He has assisted and supported designers such as Alexander Dodge, Todd Rosenthal, and David Korins, and worked on theatrical and industrial designs with Doyale Werle Design and Bentley Meeker Lighting and Sound in New York. He was a design and production teacher at the Lavilla School of the Arts in Jacksonville, Florida, before coming to Yale. He holds a B.A. in history and economics from Fordham University.

SAMUEL KWAN CHI CHAN (LIGHTING DESIGNER) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he designed Tent Revival, Death of Yazdgerd, and Othello. Other designs include Twelfth Night (Yale Repertory Theatre); Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., Mrs. Galveston, and The Quonsets (Yale Cabaret). He collaborated with Yat Po Singers (Music Theatre), Rooftop Production (Physical Theatre), Unlock Dancing Plaza, Four Degrees Dance Laboratory, Macau Experimental Theatre, Hong Kong Ballet and Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (Dance & Opera), among others. He holds a B.F.A. in lighting design from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and a BSc in physics and political theory from the University of Hong Kong. samuelcvlx.com

JESSIE CHEN (SCENIC DESIGNER) is a third year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include The Winter's Tale and Sweat. Her other designs include Cadillac Crew (Yale Repertory Theatre); The Ugly One, School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play (Yale Cabaret); Delicacy of A Puffin Heart (NYC Corkscrew Theater Festival); Woyzeck (Lumin Theater Lab), and Ever After (National Taiwan University Art Festival). Originally from Taipei, Taiwan, she holds a B.A. in theatrical design from National Taiwan University. jessieyihuachen.com

STEPHANIE OSIN COHEN (Scenic Designer) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include Pentecost and Much Ado About Nothing. Other credits include Good Faith (Yale Repertory Theatre); Lear (Yale Summer Cabaret); Avital, Fade, Ni Mi Madre, The Guadalupes, The Slow Sound of Snow, Circling the Drain, North of Providence (Yale Cabaret); This American Wife (Next Door at New York Theater Workshop); the short film, Candace, an official selection of The American Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival; and Home Exercise, which premiered at Lincoln Center through the New Directors/New Films Festival. Prior to Yale, Stephanie worked in theater and television in New York City, where her credits include scenic artist for Hamilton (The Public Theater) and King Lear (Shakespeare in the Park); art clearance coordinator for HBO's Girls and ABC's The Family. She received her B.A. from Brandeis University and is a Fulbright Scholar. Stephanie was recently named the recipient of the 2019 Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship. stephanieosincohen.com

MIKA H. EUBANKS (COSTUME DESIGNER) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where she previously designed Tent Revival and Death of Yazdgerd. Other work includes Twelfth Night (Yale Repertory Theatre); Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., In the Red and Brown Water, School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play (Yale Cabaret); Harry and the Thief (Strand Theater); Animals Out of Paper (Silver Spring Theatre); and The Clothesline Muse (National Black Theatre Festival); Hailing from Baltimore, Mika has worked at Center Stage, the Hippodrome, and Rift Art Studio, which she co-founded. She earned the Jada Pinkett Smith Applied Arts Award in 2015, and holds a B.F.A. from Maryland Institute College of Art.

MEGUMI KATAYAMA (SOUND DESIGNER) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include The Winter's Tale, Sweat, and the Dwight/Edgewood Project. Other credits: El Huracán (Yale Repertory Theatre); Spine Line Awake: Manuel Neri Redux (Yale University Art Gallery); Untitled Ke$ha Project, The Whale in the Hudson, Non-Player Character, the feels... (kms), One Big Breath, The Red Tent, The Quonsets, Current Location, Butterfly's Fear, and Silent Sex (Yale Cabaret). At Yale Rep she was the associate sound designer for Rude Mechs's Field Guide, and assistant sound designer and engineer on Mary Jane and Seven Guitars. Megumi is originally from Japan and holds a B.F.A. in theater from the University of Central Oklahoma.

HERIN KAPUTKIN (COSTUME DESIGNER) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include The Girl Is Chained and Pentecost. Other credits: El Huracán (Yale Repertory Theatre); Marvellous (FringeNYC); The Shakes: Romeo and Juliet (Flea Theater); Cendrillon (Purchase Opera Company); Twelfth Night and Three Birds Alighting on a Field (Purchase Repertory Theatre). She has assisted designers such as Linda Cho, Paul Carey, and Rachel Guilfoyle, among others, and was the design assistant at Long Wharf Theatre assisting Ilona Symogi, Jess Goldstein, Emily Rebholz, and Paul Tazewell. Herin holds a B.F.A. in costume design and construction from Purchase College.

MATTHEW R. MALONE (COSTUME DESIGNER) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he designed Marty and the Hands That Could and Passion. Other credits include Cadillac Crew (Yale Repertory Theatre); NOVIOS: part one, The Light Fantastic, The Apple Tree (Yale Cabaret); Julius Caesar, The Tempest, Medea, Anna in the Tropics, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Wilderness of Mirrors, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, Lizards... (Stella Adler Studios); Anything Goes (Little Theatre on the Square); Anne Boleyn (Calderwood Pavilion); Woyzeck, Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, Cold Summer (Boston University); and Gods and Kings (The Other Mirror). Matthew holds a B.F.A. in costume design from Boston University, and has worked as a costume crafts artist for John Kristiansen New York, Inc.; Glimmerglass Opera; Boston Ballet; and as a draper for the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony.

RIW RAKKULCHON (SCENIC DESIGNER) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he designed the sets for The Girl Is Chained and Passion. Other credits include Twelfth Night (Yale Repertory Theatre); Untitled Ke$ha Project, Thunder Above, Deeps Below; One Big Breath (Yale Cabaret); Antony + Cleopatra (Yale Summer Cabaret); Loose Canon (Fringe Encore NYC 2015); and Far From Canterbury (FringeNYC), as well as collaborations with Kitchen Theatre Company, Opera Ithaca, and Ithaca Shakespeare. He assisted designers such as Wilson Chin and Walt Spangler on productions at The Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, and Berkeley Rep, among others. He holds a B.F.A. in theatrical production from Ithaca College. riwrdesign.com

ANDREW ROVNER (Sound Designer) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include Seven Spots On The Sun, Marty and the Hands That Could, Romeo and Juliet, and Perfectly Timed Photos Taken Before a Disaster. Other credits include Cadillac Crew (Yale Repertory Theatre); NOVIOS: part one, The Light Fantastic, The Other World (Yale Cabaret); 1984 (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Four, Rolling (Jackalope Theatre Company); Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them (First Floor Theater); and The December Man (Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co.). He was also the sound designer for Storm, The Wild (Walkabout Theater Company); and Circle-Machine (Oracle Theatre); among others. Andrew holds a B.A. in drama and philosophy from Vassar College.

KATHRYN RUVUNA (Sound Designer) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include Tent Revival, Pentecost, and Much Ado About Nothing. Her work has also been heard in Good Faith (Yale Repertory Theatre); Taking Warsan Shire Out of Context on the Eve of the Great Storm, It's Not About My Mother, In the Red and Brown Water, The Meal, The Red Tent, Ni Mi Madre, Enter Your Sleep (Yale Cabaret); and Mies Julie (Yale Summer Cabaret). She holds a B.F.A. in sound design from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University.

GERARDO DÍAZ SÁNCHEZ (SCENIC DESIGNER) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include Tent Revival and Romeo and Juliet. Other credits include El Huracán (Yale Repertory Theatre); Mud, This American Wife, Re:Union, Yale School of Drag 2017 (Yale Cabaret); and The Trojan Women (Yale Summer Cabaret). Originally from Guayama, Puerto Rico, Gerardo received a B.A. in environmental design from the School of Architecture at the University of Puerto Rico, with a double major in theatre design and techniques.

BEATRICE VENA (Costume Designer) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include The Winter's Tale and Sweat. Other credits include Circling the Drain, and The Quonsets (Yale Cabaret). Regional credits include Good Faith (Yale Repertory Theatre); Wondrous Strange, That High Lonesome Sound (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Alice in Wonderland (Creede Repertory Theatre); and In a Tilted Place (IRT Theater). She has also been fortunate enough to assist Ann Roth, David Zinn, James Schuette, and Paloma Young. Beatrice is a company member of the New York-based theater company The Associates and received her B.A. in theater arts from Hendrix College.

NIC VINCENT (LIGHTING DESIGNER) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he designed the lighting for The Girl Is Chained, Passion, Pentecost, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Other credits include El Huracán (Yale Repertory Theatre); NOVIOS: part one, Agreste (Drylands), The Ugly One, The Red Tent, and This American Wife at Yale Cabaret. Originally from Ontario, Canada, Nic has worked with The Shaw Festival, Shakespeare in the Ruff, and The Banff Centre, among others. He holds a B.F.A. in theatre performance production from Ryerson University.